Surprised by God

“Listen, you deaf! Look, you blind, so that you may see. Who is blind but my servant, or deaf like my messenger I am sending? Who is blind like my dedicated one, or blind like the servant of the Lord? Though seeing many things, you pay no attention. Though his ears are open, he does not listen.” Because of his righteousness, the Lord was pleased to magnify his instruction and make it glorious. But this is a people plundered and looted, all of them trapped in holes or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them and loot, with no one saying, “Give it back!” Who among you will hear this? Let him listen and obey in the future. Who gave Jacob to the robber, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the Lord? Have we not sinned against him? They were not willing to walk in his ways, and they would not listen to his instruction. So he poured out his furious anger and the power of war on Jacob. It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it; it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.” (Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭18‬-‭25‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about God calling the nations to present their arguments and bring witnesses as to why their false gods and idols are worthy of worship. Then we talked about God doing the same with His people, who have followed after the false gods of their captors, the Babylonians. He has called upon them to see what He has done in the past and to learn from their struggles; to hear His words of prophecy and to watch them come to fulfillment. But hearing God’s Word and seeing His works are never guarantees that we will truly hear Him, truly see Him and really understand and follow His will.

Our focal passage opens with these scathing words: “Listen, you deaf! Look, you blind, so that you may see. Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like my messenger I am sending? Who is blind like my dedicated one, or blind like the servant of the LORD? Though seeing many things, you pay no attention. Though his ears are open, he does not listen.” (Is. 42:18-20) This condemnation is not generic, but very specific and personal with the repeated use of “you” and “My” for identification purposes. God’s not talking to or about the pagan nations, He’s talking to and about His own people.

His people are in exile in Babylon but are blind and deaf to Him, His works and His Word. What they’ve known about God and His love for them has been overshadowed by their circumstances. They’ve let their feelings and their experiences redefine their beliefs about God and His love for them. In other words, they’ve grown blind to the purpose of God and deaf to the word of God. 

Most often, we do the same thing. Something happens in our life and we immediately question the goodness of God. We always fall back to the “why” question and ignore the “who” assurances. We ask “Why?”, somehow thinking we not only deserve an answer but we didn’t deserve what happened to us. Really? But instead of asking “Why?”, maybe we should consider “Who!”, instead. Yes, instead of asking why try considering who is at work before you ask why. But why should we do this? Because we see many things, but pay no attention. And though our ears are open, we don’t listen.

Why would God continue to pursue a people who are blind to His ways and deaf to His words? Isaiah anticipates the question: “Because of His righteousness, the Lord was pleased to magnify His instruction and make it glorious.” (Isaiah‬ ‭42‬:‭21‬ ‭CSB‬‬) Before you get too excited, you need to really let this verse settle into your spirit. Because of God’s righteousness, He was more than happy to take His people down a path of disciplinary instruction that would result in something glorious! In other words, God is much, much more intent on making you holy than on making you happy.

“Who among you will hear this? Let him listen and obey in the future. Who gave Jacob to the robber, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD?” (Is. 42:23-24a) Wait, God did this? The exile of Israel in Babylon is His fault? Doesn’t that mean that the struggles in my life, well, that they’re all God’s fault? 

Well, it’s really not God’s fault… it’s ours. Yes, even Isaiah includes himself in this scathing rebuke: “Have we not sinned against Him?” However, this isn’t just a national tragedy it’s a universal tragedy. Have we not ALL sinned against Him? The next two statements harken back to the Serpent’s challenge to Eve in the garden: “They were not willing to walk in His ways, and they would not listen to His instruction.” 

Just like our ancient parents, we still refuse to “walk in His ways” or “listen to His instruction.” God has not only given us His very specific commandments – to walk in His ways (see Ex. 20), but He has also called upon us to listen to His instruction – to trust the truth of His word and His will or purpose for us. When we refuse, we will experience His wrath and judgment upon our sin, our rebellion. “So He poured out His furious anger and the power of war on Jacob. It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it; it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”

This is the part where we most often struggle, God’s wrath and judgment upon sin. But this is also the part where the Biblical story gets very personal and very, very exciting. God’s wrath is poured out and Jacob is “surrounded with fire, but didn’t know it; it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.” Pay attention! God’s wrath upon sin is ALWAYS intended to cause blind eyes to see, and deaf ears to hear. God’s wrath upon your sin is His bullhorn-delivered, wake up call to you!!! Are you awake? Are you listening? But like Jacob, we often don’t realize it or take it to heart. We sleep right through it… zzzz.

But God’s not done… not by a long shot!

Our Creator responds, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; YOU ARE MINE!” (My emphasis) 

We often misunderstand the Biblical story, we think that God gave us a way to save ourselves – following the Ten Commandments. When man consistently failed to follow them, God had to come up with a different plan. Plan B, Jesus. Jesus came and showed us it was possible to be good and we just needed to pray, morally reform ourselves, try harder and be good. Summary: Do more good than bad and God will reward you with heaven.

NOT!

That’s not the plan and never was the plan. The plan NEVER changed and has ALWAYS been salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus as the Son who came to give Himself as a ransom for man. Isaiah looks down through the portal of time that God has opened for him, and he sees the people of God struggling with faith as they live in Babylonian exile. He sees another Exodus, but he really sees two of them. One that will bring 42,000 of his brothers back from Babylonian exile as Cyrus crushes the opposition and frees them to return home. And a second one, much further down that portal of time… he doesn’t see Cyrus redeeming the people, he sees God Himself coming to redeem His people: 

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, and the flame will not burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior. I have given Egypt as a ransom for you, Cush and Seba in your place. Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you, I will give people in exchange for you and nations instead of your life.” (Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

Initially, this may sound like a rescue from Babylon. But if you listen closely to the words and the loftiness of what God is doing, you will recognize that this is bigger, much bigger than just the return of 42,000 Israelites to their homeland. “I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth – everyone who bears My name and is created for My glory. I have formed them; indeed, I have made them.”

This passage indicates that God has gone to great lengths to redeem His people, but the people He is calling by name are not limited to Jacob’s descendants living as Babylonian exiles. He is gathering them together from all over the globe, “everyone who bears My name and is created for My glory.” There are two things that really stand out in this description of God’s people: who they belong to and their purpose – they bear God’s name and they are created for His glory.

You need to stop and consider that statement a little longer. We were created for God’s glory, that’s our purpose. This slaps modern individualism in the face. I know a lot of people who believe that the highest purpose of man is his own glory, his own identity, his own purpose and his own desires. But God says our purpose is NOT about ourselves, but we exist for Him and His glory! That changes everything. Our purpose is not personal, it is not self defined but it IS divinely defined. We are His and we were created to bring Him glory.  There is no higher purpose. 

Now, God gathers everyone together – those who are blind, but have eyes and are deaf, but have ears – and calls them to present witnesses who can testify and vindicate their false gods, their man-made idols. Then God declares that His people and His chosen Servant are His witnesses in this trial, “so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am HE.” He goes on to say, He alone is God and besides Him, there is no Savior! That’s important, pay attention to it. God has just identified His chosen Servant, the Savior that He is sending to redeem mankind is… Himself.

Man is unable to save himself from God’s wrath, but God has taken the initiative and He will provide salvation. God poured out His furious anger on man’s sin and then He took all of that wrath upon Himself. We are unable to satisfy God’s wrath for our sin and survive, but God can. He has taken our place and has born the full punishment of His own wrath for our sin. Then He walked out of that tomb, three days later.

Now, God offers mercy, forgiveness, hope and life to you. Not because you deserve it, not because of your goodness, but because of your great need and because of His great love for you. This is where religion and Christian faith differ, drastically. Religion demands you satisfy its god’s demands before you receive its blessing. Christ says, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened down with religious demands and I will give you rest.” God doesn’t give us a list of rules that we must follow in order to earn His love and forgiveness. He gives us Himself and that changes everything. We follow Him because He loves us even more than we love ourselves and we’ve found that what He desires in us, what He wants for us is better, infinitely better than what we ever wanted or desired for ourselves.

Finally, notice that He alone is God, nobody can rescue you from His power (or wrath), and what God determines to do, nobody can undo. He’s not one of many gods. He’s not even just one of a few gods. He and He alone IS God. There are NO others. That means you have no right to reign over your own life. He alone is God, you are His creation and He has never given that right to you or anyone else. If you want to experience the power of His salvation, just kneel before Him, trust Him and then walk with Him and you will find life and joy.

Does that surprise you? Can it possibly be that easy? It is.. and it isn’t. Jesus told us that we should “count the cost” before choosing to follow Him. Cost? What cost? I thought there wasn’t a list of rules? There’s not, but there’s certainly a cost. That cost is the right to rule over our own lives. We must be willing to abdicate the throne of our own lives and offer it to Jesus. He’s God, we aren’t. His will is perfect, ours isn’t. His way is right, ours is wrong. He is righteous, we are sinners. We can’t save ourselves, but He can and will save us when we abdicate our throne and offer Him that seat.

You don’t deserve Him, I don’t deserve Him, but He loves us anyway. Surprise! What He’s done, nobody can undo. Just trust Him, kneel before Him and be SURPRISED by God!